Theatre
Tales from the trenches
As the grab for oil and economic hegemony continues in several war zones, Steve Cramer talks to two Scottish dramatists intent on telling stories from the point of view of ordinary soldiers.
apitalism is tailing. The West.
contingent as it is on a ['8 economy
now only really sustained by the bankrolling ol~ the ('hinese. is living on borrow ed time. .-\s mighty empires decline they are apt to extreme measures and militant solutions. something quite as apparent in the current neoconservative policies in the USA as it was in the rise ol‘jingoistic nationalism in Britain before the liirst World War.
With the privatisation oi Iraqi oil. the neo- cons might hope to arrest the economic decline. bill the cost ol' the war. as well as the relative instability ol supply. seems to have put paid to any hope ol tmdermining ()l’li(' and gaining greater economic control. The recent bout ol‘ protectionism lrom the ['S.»\ at the \\"l'() will only serve to hasten the collapse when it comes.
.‘\ll ol‘ this has everything to do with the wars currently raging in the Middle liast. The wild and desperate extremism ol' the last-throvv-ot- the-dice empire builders behind this violent strategy is mainly experienced. from a Western point ol~ view. by soldiers. not the rest ol‘ us. Timely. then. that two Scottish shows. Philip Howard's production of Henry Adam's Petrol .lt'.\ll.\ .\’iglilniurc #5 (In the TUIH' oft/1c .tlexxiu/i) tor the 'l‘raverse and John Til'l'any's production of (ireg Burke's Black Watch should tell soldier‘s stories. though of very dil’l‘erent natures.
.-\dam has created a dark. intensely nihilistic Piece that sees two Israeli soldiers ol'.-\rmenian birth holed up in a ruined building. a stronghold in the middle of a war lone. An lsraeli officer and two civilians. a Rabbi‘s widow and a Texas oil millionaire visit them. The claustrophobia leads to acts of terrible violence from the soldiers. but Adam is not wholly hostile to the squaddies. ‘They're part ol‘ this generation of rock‘n'roll soldiers that
‘l WANTED TO GIVE A VOICE TO THE GUYS WHO ARE ACTUALLY DOING THE JOB'
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are giving it big all over the world right now.' he says. ‘liverybody castigates me for it. btit I’ve got so much sympathy tor the soldiers. The idea of it was to get the soldiers who have to cope with the consequences ol' these decisions together in the same room as the people who make those decisions. It's a chance for the soldiers to answer back.'
(ireg Burke's play. Black Hittc/i. provides an account of the lirst week‘s experience of the eponymous Scottish regiment at (‘amp Dogwood. ()riginally‘ developed l'rom conversations with soldiers and former soldiers of the contemporary regiment. the piece incorporates both the experiences of ordinary
soldiers at the time and a historical picture ol‘
the regiment itself. It presents a complex but critical picture of the current conflict.
‘What I wanted was about giving a voice to the guys who were actually doing the job. There‘s no mileage in jtist saying this is a bad war. the audience will be anti-war already. It's the government that wants to have these wars.‘ says Burke. 'That anti-war l'eeling though. tends to lump soldiers into either being thugs or exploited young boys. But the soldiers we talked to were quite experienced and capable.‘
This doesn't mean that Burke is not angry on behall ol' the soldiers. charmlessly ielerrcd to as "grunts‘. even in this country these days. lor their deployment in this conl'lict. ‘lt's easy to dismiss the army. We tend to think ol the army as an organ ol the state. which it is. Bill it‘s also a working class institution.'
Perhaps it's this classism that allows these men’s experience to become an abstract to imperial powers. "l‘herc‘s lsllltl ()l collective madness that litts al‘l'lictetl the l.;ilit)tll' government. ln .»\l'ghanistan. you‘re looking at ll)(l,l)l)l) Soy iet soldiers with tlttitlsalltls til tanks and helicopter gunships who were militarily defeated in llelmand l’i'tiyiltcc. \Vhat do they expect iron} 45 pat'atroopers with a couple ol blow pipe missiles." Burke asks. 'Therc might be a massacre bel‘ore anybody comes to their senses. Tony Blair will swan oil into his retirement with all that blood on his hands.‘
Petrol Jesus Nightmare #5, Traverse, 228 1404, 5-27 Aug (not 14), times vary, £15 (24.504210). Black Watch, Traverse 4: University of Edinburgh Drill Hall, 228 1404, 6-27 Aug (not 14, 21), 8.30pm, £15 (£4.50~£10). Previews 4 & 5 Aug, £9 (£4.50).